clocketpatch (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clocketpatch) wrote2009-12-03 03:09 pm
clocketpatch) wrote2009-12-03 03:09 pm
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More info on the bad ads. Please read.
I've copy-pasted this direct from the email LL sent. Hope that's okay LL. This mainly applies to the DbyA segment of my Flist, but even those of you who have no idea what I'm on about should read and take precautions. This thing is on multiple sites, not just proboards:
"I got some info from one of our IT guys at work on how this current crop of ads are working. As of today the anti-virus companies have definitions in place for the one that I was hit with, but you know how clever these evil geniuses are at coming up with new ones.
As you can figure out, they are buying ad space on websites, and then the code they provide to the people running the website has a virus embedded. You don't even need to click on the ad, just the fact that your cursor gets anywhere near it is enough to trigger the malware. It pops up what looks like a legitimate Windows message (I actually got multiple pop-ups) that says the computer is infected and to click there to enable the anti-virus software. Now I am no dummy, I recognized that the message didn't seem legitimate, so I clicked the X to close the window that had popped up rather than clicking Yes or No. However they have it set that clicking ANYWHERE will trigger the virus.
So here's Bernie's tip: If you see one of these messages pop up either on your work or home computer DO NOT CLICK ANYTHING. Press Alt+F4 and that will close the pop-up windows without triggering the software. Most websites detect these malicious ads pretty quickly and remove them, but they can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. They had to re-image multiple PC's this week at my company due to this virus."
-LL
"I got some info from one of our IT guys at work on how this current crop of ads are working. As of today the anti-virus companies have definitions in place for the one that I was hit with, but you know how clever these evil geniuses are at coming up with new ones.
As you can figure out, they are buying ad space on websites, and then the code they provide to the people running the website has a virus embedded. You don't even need to click on the ad, just the fact that your cursor gets anywhere near it is enough to trigger the malware. It pops up what looks like a legitimate Windows message (I actually got multiple pop-ups) that says the computer is infected and to click there to enable the anti-virus software. Now I am no dummy, I recognized that the message didn't seem legitimate, so I clicked the X to close the window that had popped up rather than clicking Yes or No. However they have it set that clicking ANYWHERE will trigger the virus.
So here's Bernie's tip: If you see one of these messages pop up either on your work or home computer DO NOT CLICK ANYTHING. Press Alt+F4 and that will close the pop-up windows without triggering the software. Most websites detect these malicious ads pretty quickly and remove them, but they can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. They had to re-image multiple PC's this week at my company due to this virus."
-LL
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Boy, am I glad I use a Mac. But I will pass the info along to my parents and encourage them, once again, to switch to Firefox with Adblock Plus installed.
BTW: does this thing have a name so I could pass on an info sheet from McAfee/Symantec/etc?
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